1684

"In 1684, the term "Saratoga Patent" is said to have appeared on provincial rolls when Governor Dongan is said to have granted the petition of Pieter Schuyler, Robert Livingston, and others to purchase a tract of land on the upper Hudson from the Mohawk Indians. General Philip Schuyler, a descendant of an original patentee, later claimed that the tract originally was partitioned in 1685. However, not until October 1708 did Governor Edward Hyde (Cornbury) confirm the petition for a deed. At that time, the named patentees were Colonel Peter Schuyler, Robert Livingston, Esq., Dirck Wessels, Esq., Jan Jan Bleecker, Esq., Johannes Schuyler, Esq., and Cornelius Van Dyck - grandson and heir of Cornelius Van Dyck for a tract of land that is said to have embraced six square miles on both sides of the Hudson River. A present-day scholar noted that the patent encompassed some 150,000 acres." - Bielinski, New York State Museum. The photo is of land plots.

1686

He was a signatory of the "Charter of Beverwijck." He was appointed Recorder after the first election under the charter, and served in this office for a decade. Around this time he was also alderman of the first city board.

1689

Ten Broeck refuses to support Jacob Leisler during Leisler's rebellion. During the Glorious Revolution in England when King James II was overthrown, Protestant Jacob Leisler led a rebellion in New York, replacing Governor Nicholson, and occupying Fort James and taking over the harbor. He briefly commanded all of New York, except Albany, where a resistance held. He would finally occupy it as well in 1690, and by this time his officials were posted in nearly every office of New York. Leisler's Rebellion was put down in 1691 by an official governor appointed by the new king, William of Orange. Even after Leisler's execution, the city was still split into pro-Leislerian and anti-Leislerian factions. The photo is of a statue of Leisler in New York.

1690

When Schenectady was historically attacked and ruined by Canadians allied with Mowhawk, Sault, and Algonquin warriors, Ten Broeck was acting as an envoy to the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onondagas to figure out their loyalties. He, as well as the Mayor of Albany, Pieter Schuyler and Kilian Van Rensselaer, Patroon of Rensselaerswyck, would later address an appeal to the council of Massachusetts over Schenectady. Around this time he was also in the militia as a Major under Colonel Pieter Schuyler. He served as an Indian Commissioner for thirty years. He would later become one of the four founders of the Commissioners for Indian Affairs, which supervised the fur trade and commerce with the Iroquois. It was dissolved after two years, when the governor handed over the responsibility to the local government.

1696

He became Mayor of Albany. The image is of a hand drawn map of Albany from around 1695. Ten Broeck's relatives were also involved in Albany politically. The following is from Wikipedia: "His great-grandson-in-law was Philip Livingston, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Philip Livingston was first cousin once removed of mayor Robert Livingston the Younger. Philip Livingston's wife, Christina Ten Broeck also was a cousin of Maria Ten Broeck, who married Continental Army General Gozen "Goose" Van Schaick, son of Albany Mayor Sybrant Gozen Van Schaick. Goose Van Schaick's sister was married to Continental Army General Peter Gansevoort—a great-nephew of Albany Mayor Pieter Van Brugh."

1717

He died at his home, called a Bouwerie, or farm, along Roelof Jansen's Kil. Kil was another word for "stream" or "creek". The following is from the Ten Broeck Genealogy: "The current tradition regarding the name of the stream is as follows : Owing to a very severe winter in those early times, Roelof Jansen's boat became so wedged in the ice of this Kil, that he was obliged to spend the season with the neighboring Indians, and await the warm air of spring to release him, and ever thereafter the waters bore his name. On the banks of this Kil, on a gentle rise of ground,
Dirck W. Ten Broeck had dwelling and barns erected, and his interest grew and centered here, as the years passed on. His great-granddaughter, Albertina Ten Broeck...was probably the last of the family born in the house then erected upon the Bouwerie. She made a silhouette illustration of the place, which is both curious and interesting — a blending of imagination and reality."